Jay Sondhi

How to refinance your property with little or no equity
April 25, 2011 · · 1 Comment

I’ve recently taken an application for a veteran who will be refinancing their two purchase loans from a couple years back.  She will be saving about $700 per month with her new 30 year fixed rate of 4.75%.  It reminded me that there are still a lot of folks out there who may not have taken advantage of the low rates available because they thought there was not enough equity in their property to refinance.  Without getting into too much detail, I thought I would share three great options to consider if this is the case for you:
Freddie/Fannie option
If Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae own your mortgage, it may be possible to refinance your current loan even if it’s underwater.  Have you checked to see if your loan is Freddie/Fannie?  Here are the links. 

Click here to see if Fannie Mae owns your mortgage
Click here to see if Freddie Mac owns your mortgage

FHA
FHA will insure mortgages up to 97.75% of the home value.  The maximum loan amount is $729,750 here in San Francisco County.  This loan limit is slated to be decreased at the end of 2011.

VA
If you or your spouse is a veteran, you can borrow up to 100% of your home value.  This is a great option for veterans because mortgage insurance is not required for VA loans.  The current VA loan limit for San Franciso and San Mateo County is $1,000,000.

Jay Sondhi
http://www.jaysondhi.com/ 

Nicole Machado

SSF Real Estate becoming a competitive sport…
March 8, 2009 · · 8 Comments

2009-01-07-boxing_glovesGet on your boxing gloves and jump in the ring, but don’t wait for the bell to ring or you’ll be knocked out of the competition.  In the past few weeks homes in SSF have been flying off the market. I have been working with first time home buyers for about a month now that desperately want to purchase a home in SSF.  They are solid buyers that have excellent credit and a good down payment, however they keep getting beat out on properties by all cash offers. The two most recent homes they bid on had a tremendous amount of activity. One had 18 offers and the other had multiple offers within a few Read more

Kathy Wall

More Housing Help from the Government
March 3, 2009 · · 4 Comments

 

In previous posts, fellow bloggers, Annie Chang and Michael Monozon,  have talked about the many benefits of the new federal government stimulus package.   Over the weekend, I learned about yet another program that will greatly help potential home buyers and will also help the many home builders who are sinking under the weight of  their new homes not selling . 

At our office meeting this morning, our in house lender, Guarantee Mortgage, filled us in on the details, as follows.   It seems that the State of California has now instituted yet another tax credit.   This one will apply only to people who purchase a brand new home, condo or townhome. Read more

Shokoofeh Nowbakht

Sellers looking at Contract Terms
February 10, 2009 · · 8 Comments

Buyers and their agents need to be very careful about not only the offer price, but also the terms of the contract. Sellers do not always just accept the highest offer, as one might think.They want to SELL the property and the only way that would happen is Read more

Kathy Wall

Judging a Book by it’s Cover….Always a Mistake
February 3, 2009 · · 8 Comments

At our office meeting this morning we discussed the fact that a large chain restaurant plans to offer free breakfasts to anyone who comes to their restaurant tomorrow.    I won’t be going, because I have been boycotting them for more years than I can remember, after reading (on many occasions and in several locations) that their corporate culture allowed employees to discriminate again African Americans.   I’ve never gone back since.  

This made me think about how important our public image is and how one wrong move can cost us a customer for life.    We need to be extremely conscious all the time about what we say and how we say it, both with our voices our physical gestures, and our written words.    A silly joke that someone finds offensive or the way we discuss a neighborhood at an open house…almost anything can have the potential to lose a client or hurt someone’s feelings. Read more

Sophia Lin

Knock Knock is anyone Home? (I hope not)
September 10, 2008 · · Comment here

Should a Seller be present when a Buyer is previewing their home?  As an experienced Buyer’s and Seller’s agent, I understand both sides.  I believe it is in the best interest of both the Buyer and Seller for the Seller not to be present at a showing (unless in some understandable circumstances) I like to use the simple analogy of when one goes to the store to buy a pair of pants.  We look around for what we like, we see if we could afford it, and then we try it on (the most important part, if it doesn’t fit, we don’t want it).  Now when shopping for a house the part where we try it on is when we are previewing the home (the most important part) When Buyer’s are Read more